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Today’s morning Inbox is still angry about the Xbox Live account scandal, as one reader decides to make more of his laptop. To join in with the discussions yourself simply email us at
gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk.

Dante – or is it?

Character assassinationI can’t claim to be a huge fan of Devil May Cry (I only played the first two games) but I can understand why there is so much resentment over Ninja Theory’s vision in the new game. To my mind it is to do with what I call the bratification of the lead character. Dante was a cool dude, no doubt about it but the new kid on the block is exactly that, a kid, the like of which you see on every High Street and with about as much charisma and from what I’ve heard Lara Croft is getting a similar makeover.Apparently, the new Lara will be a vulnerable young woman with issues. Hell’s teeth! I don’t want vulnerable! I want the kick ass, feisty Lara that I know so well. What’s next? The Master Chief sans helmet? I haven’t forgotten what they did to Samus in the last Metroid game. Game developers have a tendency to fix stuff that ain’t broke. Often it’s in an attempt to breathe new life into an ailing franchise. All well and good but you meddle with gaming icons at your peril and in the case of Devil May Cry it looks like they’ve thrown out the bathwater and left us with the baby.Gill C.PS: I don’t agree with people making death threats. Just thought I’d make that clear.Close encountersI have been playing Skyrim a lot lately and thought I would share one of my recent encounters. As I was walking around checking out the great scenery I came across an angry dragon, being totally unprepared I had to leg it. As I was running for my life I came across a giant, mammoth and a sabretooth tiger, all very close by so I lured the dragon between them all.As you can imagine the mother of all battle royales broke out as I sat back and watched. Only the mammoth and the giant came out of it alive, which by then I could swoop in and pick up the pieces. It was one of my greatest gaming moments. So glad I gave Skyrim a chance after GC’s recommendation.justelvis81 (gamertag)Meaningless hypeI just read in a well know games website (CVG) that the new PlayStation is going to be more powerful than the new Xbox! I mean come on already! I don’t think I can put up with nonsense for another two years so please everyone don’t believe the hype since the specs have not even been released or both consoles been confirmed yet as actually coming out.zbig daddy gz (gamertag)/gingchazza08 (PSN ID)GC:Tech spec rumours are particularly irrelevant because throughout gaming history the most powerful console has almost never been the most successful. Sony fans should almost be hoping it’s less powerful.

The phantom hackersGlad to see someone is getting refunded by Microsoft after the Live account incidents. Despite being told my stolen Microsoft Points would be refunded so far nothing has happened despite me being in touch with customer services on two occasions. I think it is ridiculous that both Microsoft and EA still insist on saying that users that have had their accounts stolen have been careless online and got caught out, even though many of the correspondents in the Inbox and on other forums are adamant that they are careful online or even have entirely separate log in details for Xbox Live.Surely the frequency at which this is happening should be setting alarm bells ringing at Microsoft, but instead they just blame us – their customers.OldMiley (gamertag/PSN ID)GC:The whole situation is extremely unusual, but there’s still no evidence that anything other than phishing is at the root of it. There’s plenty enough tech savvy Xbox owners around that Microsoft is very unlikely to be able to keep it a secret if they had been hacked. But if new information surfaces we’ll try and let everyone know as soon as possible.Laptop storyAfter buying the humble bundle and playing Cave Story it’s got me into using my laptop for more than just browsing the Web. I have installed Steam but can’t play the high spec games like Skyrim, etc. but Bastion and other such titles run perfectly.This isn’t a problem at all really but I was wondering if there is other trusted sites that I can get games from like Steam, but with a more useful library of games I can run on my laptop? Happy New Year and long live GC!I The Shinobi I (gamertag)GC:Perhaps a reader knows if there’s something specifically for laptops but anything onGOG.comshould be okay, since they’re all retro games.

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Imaginary problemsSo the Xbox 720 then? One question I have about it is as I boot it up and load my first game, an original IP? Hmmâ¦ maybe not, am I going to be thinking wow that was Â£300 or 400 well spent or will I be thinking, I don’t want a DVR, bigger hard drive? Only so many games I’ll want to download, slightly shinier graphics?I’m not a graphics snob (us Spectrum gamers were happy with our seven colours and black), more processing power won’t make for better art design will it? One of my favourite games graphically is still Skies Of Arcadia, Xbox Live can’t really change that much nor does it need to although that’s not a console issue, I’m digressing.So what are we getting for our money? Where will the smaller new original games go? Download only? I feel that gaming has slowed in its leaps and bounds now, we are in a good place, there’s never been so many good games has there? I personally am amassing a huge back catalogue of PlayStation 2 and PSone games, a defence against a download only future, I won’t even trade a game in for my 360 anymore. Hoarding I think it’s called.I’m like the people who buy all the bread when it snows, so I ask again do I need an Xbox 720? A resounding no. Will I get one? Too right I will!zombiekicker (gamertag)Anthill MobJust wanna recommend an iPhone game called Anthill. It’s a sort of cross between a Tower Defense game and a real-time strategy game with strong flavours of Pikmin thrown in (with ants though instead of cute Pikmin). It’s got very good touch controls and at the moment is only 69p.CrunkleMario motorsportI recently got Forza Motorsport 4. It’s a great game and I’m having lots of fun with it. It speaks to the inner nerd in me that loves the sense of a well-chosen line and a clean passing move. I played lots of Gran Turismo 5 last year. It seems to me that the driving in Forza is a little more forgiving and the game is easier to get around in terms of menus and setting everything up. Both have proved worthy purchases.I played some online races this last weekend. Hardly one went by without a pile-up at the first corner. Overtaking an opponent proved a waste of time since my effort to brake for the next corner was met with a broadside barge off the track by the person I’d just passed.All I can say is that Mario Kart remains the best online racing game around. I’d recommend it to all the people I played with at Forza who treat that like a kart racing game. Racing like Dick Dastardly is keenly encouraged in Mario Kart 7 and nothing beats it. Not even those ‘serious racing sims’.DaveSuperhero socialThis is the ultimate Spider-Man game formula. Its Spider-Man meets Persona. Imagine it, wake up, the choice of going to college, going to your lectures, upgrading your social aspects, getting dates with Mary Jane. Then you have your jobs at the Daily Bugle and at the lab with Connors. After college you can web swing.But then you can sack off aspects (let’s face it we’d all want to web swing) do that and everyone in your social circle wouldn’t like you, but if you swing the other way everyone would like you but the crime rate would shoot up and the populous would then hate Spider-Man.This could lead on to scenarios like criminals rising up if you neglect your crime fighting responsibilities or Peter Parker being ignored and therefore your confidence in Spider-Man being lowered. It’d need many tweaks but I think the formula for the game would be very interesting!LiamSurprise successAfter recently playing Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, I went and bought it, and am really enjoying it. I didn’t get any of the figures straight away, thinking they would be easily available. However, the figures are almost impossible to buy, as every shop and supermarket has sold out. Even online stores are all awaiting lengthy stock waits.The supermarkets claim to get stock in each day, but they are selling out instantly. I don’t want to resort to the silly prices on eBay, some are going for over £50 (Whirlwind and Legendary Spyro) but why haven’t Activision released more figures?Dark anima X (gamertag)This week’s Hot TopicNow that we’ve got a full five days to cover the subject this week’s Hot Topic is the obvious one that greats every new year: what games are you most looking forwards to?We want to know what games, both announced and assumed, you’re most looking forwards to this year and which you’ve already pencilled in as must buys. If you’re not sure what’s meant to be out then check out our Preview of 2012 and the latest release schedule (which only includes confirmed release dates).

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Feel free to mention games you’re hoping to be announced as well, although do try and keep it relatively realistic. Also, what hardware are you looking forward to this year, considering we’re confirmed to get at least the PlayStation Vita and Wii U? Are there any games or sequels you hope not to see and how do you think 2012 will much up to 2011 in terms of quality and diversity?

The small printNew Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.